General Analog Circuit Simulation:
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A short, hands-on introduction to PSpice (version
V9.1). It covers basic circuit creation using
schematic capture, running simulations in time and
frequency domain, and analyzing the results. After
completion, you should be ready to play with the
example circuits below, as well as create and
analyze your own circuits.
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Installs a fully functional, free version of the
standard PSpice circuit simulator. All the
simulations for the tutorial have been done with
version V9.1 of this program. It may be distributed
freely. When asked, choose "Schematics" as your
schematic editor if you want to be compatible with
the PSpice introduction .
PSpice handles differential transmission lines as
well as lossy transmission lines in both time and
frequency domain.
Main restrictions (compared to the full commercial
version): Limited to a single page in schematic
capture (but you can use sub-blocks), a maximum
of 50 circuit elements on the page. The simulator
will simulate circuits with up to 70 elements (you
can thus get above 50 elements when you use
sub-blocks). Some elements have further
restrictions (e.g. maximum of 10 transmission
lines) .
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A collection of PSpice example circuits, most of
them taken from the seminar material, that you can
play with. You can also use them as the basis for
your own circuit experiments.
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Transmission Line Calculation, Field Solvers:
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TXLine is the best, most powerful free transmission
line calculator we have found so far. It handles a
variety of configurations (coaxial lines, microstrips,
striplines, and more), and calculates not only single
ended and differential line impedances but also
signal losses and propagation speeds.
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TLinesim is a simple web-based simulator that can
calculate transmission lines (microstrip, stripline,
stubs, etc.) and display the results as step
response, S-parameters, eye-diagrams etc.
Especially the latter is a great feature. It can
includes skin and dielectric losses, pre-emphasis,
different driver rise times and others. It's quite easy
to set up and simulates a test bench with signal
generator, VNA, and Oscilloscope.
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TNT is a simple, free (GNU Licence) 2D
quasi-static field solver. It calculates inductances,
capacitances, mutual inductances, mutual
capacitances, impedances, crosstalk, and
propagation delay for linear structures, i.e.
structures fully described by a 2D cross section
(e.g. straight transmission lines, via fields, etc.).
Very handy to provide circuit parameters for PSpice
model creation.
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Sonnet Lite is a feature-limited - but still very
usable! - 2.5D frequency-domain field solver,
geared towards predominantly planar printed circuit
board structures (e.g. a planar stripline coupler) -
but it can handle vias as well. Registering the
product (it's free) is recommended since this
provides a registration key that extends the
maximum memory usage from 1MB to 16MB, which
makes it usable for smaller real-live problems. It
calculates capacitances, impedances, equivalent
Spice models, S-parameters, and current
distribution.
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ViewMate is a free Windows(R)- based Gerber
viewer. With ViewMate you can open and view
Gerber, ODB++, DPF, HPGL and other PCB file
formats - those files are what gets sent from the
PCB designer to the PCB manufacturer to have the
board built. Use the viewer to check for exact layout,
line widths, component placement etc. You can
view, measure features, and even print your files.
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Viewer for Cadence Allegro layout files (version 15.x
and 16.x).
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Simple, easy-to-learn but capable schematic and
layout editors. The programs are free, their
restriction is that PCB designs cannot be exported
to a standard format (like Gerber), but have do be
submitted through the Internet to be manufactured
by ExpressPCB.com. The upside is that one gets
one-stop-shopping, instant price quotes, and does
not have to deal with a complicated design and
fabrication flow. Offered are two- and four-layer
boards, the latter allow creation of controlled
impedance traces, split power and ground planes,
etc.
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